WIT-continued.

WIT.

Though wit never can be learn'd,

It may be assum'd, and own'd, and earn'd,
And, like our noblest fruits, improv’d,

By being transplanted and remov'd.

We grant, altho' he had much wit,
He was very shy of using it;
As being loth to wear it out,
And therefore bore it not about;
Unless on holy-days, or so,
As men their best apparel do.

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Butler, Hud.

Butler, Hud. 1. 1, 45.

Great wits and valours, like great estates,

Do sometimes sink with their own weights. Ib. Hud. 2, 1. 269.

Too much or too little wit,

Doth only render the owner fit
For nothing but to be undone,
Much easier than if he'd none.

Butler, Misc. Thoughts.

All wit does but divert men from the road
In which things vulgarly are understood.
And force mistake and ignorance to own

A better sense than commonly is known. Butler, Misc. Tho.
Great wits are sure to madness near allied,
And thin partitions do their bounds divide.

Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel, 1. 163.

Wit in northern climates will not blow,
Except, like orange trees, 'tis housed from snow.
Some, to whom Heaven in wit has been profuse,
Want as much more to turn it to its use;
For wit and judgment often are at strife,

Pope.

Though meant each other's aid, like man and wife.

Pope, E. C. 80.

Some to conceit alone their taste confine,
And glittering thoughts struck out at ev'ry line ;
Pleas'd with a work where nothing's just or fit;
One glaring chaos and wild heap of wit.
True wit is nature to advantage dress'd,

Pope, E. C. 289.

What oft was thought, but ne'er so well express'd,
Something whose truth, convinc'd at sight, we find,
That gives us back the image of our mind.

Modest plainness sets off sprightly wit,

Pope, E. C. 297.

For works may have more wit than does 'em good,

As bodies perish through excess of blood. Pope, E. C. 302. A wit with dunces, and a dunce with wits. Pope, Dunc. IV. 90.

The pride of nature would as soon admit
Competitors in empire as in wit;

Onward they rush at fame's imperious call,

And less than greatest, would not be at all. Churchill, Ap. 29.

Against their wills, what numbers ruin shun,
Purely through want of wit to be undone :
Nature has shown, by making it so rare,
That wit's a jewel which we need not wear.

Young, Ep. to Pope,

Sense is our helmet, wit is but the plume,
The plume exposes, 'tis our helmet saves.
Sense is the diamond, weighty, solid, sound;
When cut by wit, it casts a brighter beam;

II. 80.

Yet, wit apart, it is a diamond still. Young, N. T. vIII. 1259.

Wit, how delicious to man's dainty taste!

'Tis precious as the vehicle of sense;

But, as its substitute, a dire disease;

Pernicious talent! flatter'd by the world,

By the blind world, which thinks the talent rare.
Wisdom is rare-wit abounds.

Passion can give it; sometimes wine inspires

The lucky flash and madness rarely fails. Ib. N. T. viii. 1219.

As in smooth oil, the razor best is whet,

So wit is by politeness sharpest set;

Their want of edge from their offence is seen :

Both pain us least when exquisitely keen. Ib. L. of. F. 11. 118.

What though wit tickles ? tickling is unsafe,

If still 'tis painful while it makes us laugh;

Who, for the poor renown of being smart,

Would leave a sting within a brother's heart. Ib. L. of F.11.153.

How hard soe'er it be to bridle wit,

Yet memory oft no less requires the bit.

Stillingfleet.

The rays of wit gild wheresoe'er they strike,
But are not therefore fit for all alike;
They charm the lively, but the grave offend,
And raise a foe as often as a friend.

Stilling fleet.

He says but little, and that little said

Owes all its weight, like loaded dice, to lead ;
His wit invites you by his looks to come,

But when you knock, it never is at home. Cowper, Conver. 303.

WIT-continued.

WIT-WOES.

A Christian's wit is inoffensive light,

A beam that aids, but never grieves the sight;
Vig'rous in age as in the flush of youth,
'Tis always active on the side of truth.

697

Cowper, Conver. 599.

Men famed for wit, of dangerous talents vain,
Treat those of common parts with proud disdain ;
The powers that wisdom would, improving, hide,
They blaze abroad, with inconsid'rate pride;
While yet but mere probationers for fame,

They seize the honour they should then disclaim:
Honour so hurried to the light must fade,

Thelasting laurels flourish in the shade. Crabbe, Tales, Patron,5.
True wit is like the brilliant stone,

Dug from the Indian mine,

Which boasts two different pow'rs in one,

To cut as well as shine. Notes and Queries, Aug. 11th, 1866. WITCHES.

What are these,

So wither'd, and so wild in their attire ;

That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth,
And yet are on't.

Sh. Macb. 1. 3.

How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags,
What is't

do? you

Black spirits and white, red spirits and gray,
Mingle, mingle, mingle, you that mingle may.

Sh. Macb. IV. 4.

Middleton, Witch II. (Quoted in Stage Dir. of Sh. Mucb. iv. 1.)

These midnight hags,

By force of potent spells, of bloody characters,
And conjurations, horrible to hear,

Call fiends and spectres from the yawning deep,
And set the ministers of hell at work.

Rowe, Jane Shore.

I 'spy'd a wither'd hag, with age grown double,
Picking dry sticks, and mumbling to herself;
Her eyes with scalding rheum, were gall'd and red,
Cold palsy shook her head, her hands seem'd wither'd,
And on her crooked shoulders had she wrapp'd
The tatter'd remnants of an old striped hanging,

Which serv'd to keep her carcase from the cold. Otway, Orph. WOES-see Adversity, Grief, Sorrow.

So many miseries have craz'd my voice,

That my woe-wearied tongue is still and mute. Sh. Ric.1.1v.4.

698

WOES continued.

WOES-WOMAN, WOMEN.

Woes cluster; rare are solitary woes;

They love a train, they tread each other's heel.

Young, N. T. 11. 63.

No words suffice the secret soul to show, And truth denies all eloquence to woe. Byron, Corsair, 111.22. WOMAN, WOMEN-see Anger, Coquette, Courtship, Frailty, Love, Maidens, Ruling Passion, Secrecy.

He water ploughs and soweth in the sand

And hopes the flickering wind with net to hold,

Who hath his hopes laid on a woman's hand. Sir P. Sydney.

Trust not the treason of those smiling looks,
Until ye have their guileful trains well tried,
For they are like unto the golden hooks,
That from the foolish fish their baits do hide.
Extremely mad the man I surely decm,

Ed. Spenser.

That weens with watch and hard restraint to stay

A woman's will, which is dispos'd to go astray. Ed. Spencer.
A woman's love is river-like, which stopt will overflow;
And when the current finds no let, it often falls too low.

There cannot be a greater clog to man,
Than to be weary of a wanton woman.
He bears an honourable mind,

And will not use a woman lawlessly.

Women are as roses; whose fair flower,

W. Warner.

Sir J. Harrington.

Sh. Two G. v. 3.

Being once display'd, doth fall that very hour. Sh. Tw. N. 11. 4.

Women are frail,

Ay, as the glasses where they view themselves;
Which are as easy broke as they make forms.
Women! help heaven! men their creation mar
In profiting by them.

Sh. M. for M. 11. 4.

We cannot fight for love as men may do;
We should be woo'd, and were not made to woo.

Sh. Mid. N. 11. 2.

What? I! I love! I sue! I seek a wife!
A woman, that is like a German clock,
Still a repairing, ever out of frame,
And never going aright; being a watch,
And being watch'd that it may still go right!

If ladies be but young and fair,
They have the gift to know it.

Sh. Love's L. L. m. 1.

Sh. As Y. L. 11. 7.

WOMAN, WOMEN.

WOMAN, WOMEN-continued.

All that life can rate

Worth name of life, in thee hath estimate:

Youth, beauty, wisdom, courage, virtue, all

699

That happiness and prime can happy call. Sh. All's W. 11. 1. Why are our bodies soft, and weak, and smooth,

Unapt to toil and trouble in the world;

But that our soft conditions, and our hearts,
Should well agree with our external parts.

Sh. Tam. S. v. 2.

'Tis a good hearing, when children are toward:

But a harsh hearing, when women are froward. Sh.Tam.S.v.2. 'Tis beauty, that doth oft make women proud; "Tis virtue, that doth make them most admired; 'Tis modesty, that makes them seem divine. Sh. Hen. VI.3,1 4. Women are soft, mild, pitiful, and flexible; Thou stern, obdurate, flinty, rough, remorseless.

Sh. Hen. VI. 3, I. 4.

Two women plac'd together makes cold weather.

Sh. Hen. VIII. I. 4.

A woman impudent and mannish grown
Is not more loath'd, than an effeminate man
In time of action.

O most delicate friend!
Who is't can read a woman ?

Sh. Troil. III. 3.

Sh. Cymb. v. 5.

Proper deformity seems not in the fiend

So horrid, as in woman.

Sh. Lear, IV. 2.

You are pictures out of doors,

Bells in your parlours, wild cats in your kitchens,

Saints in your injuries, devils being offended,

Players in your housewifery, and housewives in your beds.

Sh. Oth. II. 1.

Sh. Pass. Pilg. 17.

Have you not heard it said full oft,
A woman's nay doth stand for naught?
Among the many rare and special gifts,
That in the female sex are found to sit,
This one is chief, that they at merest shifts
Give best advice, and shew most ready wit;
But man, except he chew and think and sift,
How every part may answer to their fit,
By rash abuse doth often over-shoot him,

And doth accept the things that do not boot him. J. Wecver.